


Huntress of Shadows

by FireFrost143



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Akechi Goro Redemption, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Alternate dimention, Brace yourself, Everyone Has A Shadow, Fluff and Angst, Gay Character, I'm A Slow Updater, I'm Sorry, Palaces, Slow Burn, Tears, here we go boys, sorry - Freeform, work in very sporadic progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-12-12 05:17:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20992427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireFrost143/pseuds/FireFrost143
Summary: Yaldabaoth found a vessel to keep a piece of the Metaverse in, and things are not going to turn out well for Y/N. When she is dragged into another world where the Phantom Thieves never existed, 4 years after the events of 20XX, can she find a way home? Does she even want to go home? It's not like her parents and jerk of a boyfriend will take responsibility for what they've done...This is a tale of a woman trying to find her place as she fights against her parents, the man calling himself her boyfriend, and the supernatural, all the while finding her closest friends are always there for her and discovering sometimes the prey needs to become the predator.





	Huntress of Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> My first Persona 5 fanfic! This is probably going to be my longest fanfic ever written, the plot is that long. Considering this all came from a dream I had about one tiny scene, I think this is going to go well. I just hope it doesn't take me forever to make new chapters... I don't have an update schedule because of how busy my life already is.

Y/N had completely freaked out when the scarlet rain had started falling. The first drop hit her head, she looked up and all around her, it looked like weak strawberry jelly was pouring from the heavens. Out of instinct, she ducked into the nearest doorway, the conveniently placed smoking shelter - smell be damned, she wasn't going out in red rain, that was never a good sign, she had seen enough films to know almost anything red was a bad thing - pulling her favourite winter coat tighter around her. Since when was red rain at Christmas in Tokyo a thing? Snow was far more common. In her 17 years alive, she had never even heard of scarlet water falling from the clouds. Looking around, Y/N's eyes widened at the sight of people going about their daily business like nothing was happening.

Like they didn't see anything wrong...

Dammit, her last-minute Christmas shopping was going to have to wait even longer. She wasn't going anywhere with this weird rain. Rusu-chan was just going to have to hold off for a while. No way in hell was she going to touch - wait a second. Why were her shoes starting to get wet? Diverting her attention from the clouds above, Y/N glanced in the opposite direction, only to start hyperventilating when she saw the ground already had a centimetre-thick layer of strange water rippling over it. An ear-piercing ringing almost split her head in half. Her knees gave way, and she crumpled to the ground, the water sloshing around her like she was wading into a swimming pool. How the hell was nobody else noticing this?

"Are you alright, sweetheart?"

A gentle hand rested on her shoulder and she turned, coming face to face with a middle-aged woman, cigarette held loosely between her lips. Her eyes were gentle, wide and a sparkling shade of hazel, and she was barely taller than Y/N as she helped the younger girl to her feet. However, she was just as unaware as everyone else around them. Y/N's breath caught in her throat, trembling violently as she almost collapsed again.

"H-how... can't you... can't you see this?!"

"See what deary?" the woman caught her again, "Are you feeling alright? It's the smoke, isn't it?"

She carefully guided Y/N out of the shelter - no, not back out there, anywhere but there - back into the rain, "There, better now you're in the fresh air?"

Y/N flinched as the water spattered across her neck. She wrenched herself from the stranger's arms and scrambled away, her lower legs already starting to go numb from the freezing liquid. How long did she have before she couldn't move them anymore?! She had to get to higher ground before that happened! What even was this stuff? She hadn't failed to notice the dull rumble that had started to shake the ground beneath her feet either. Surely this wasn't a hallucination... right? It couldn't be, it felt too real. Too real to be a dream either. It had to be real. Not too far to her right, near the shelter of the train station, something burst from the ground, spearing its way into the sky. Y/N froze. Were those... bones? Dinosaur bones? What was this, some strange zombie-skeleton version of Jurassic Park?

HOW IN HELL WAS NOBODY SEEING IT?!

From her position, frozen in place in the middle of Shibuya, she could see it all. Gigantic ribcages - they had to have belonged to some species of dinosaur, there was no other way around it - towered high above the ground, above the crowds, above her. The strange water was almost to halfway up her heels (where the hell was it coming from?) and... hold up, it had gone darker red... and thicker too... Was that blood?

Oh, God.

It was.

Y/N felt a surge of bile rush up through her throat and hastily clamped a hand over her mouth as she desperately tried to swallow it down again. Nope. She wasn't going to lose the noodles she ate for lunch just because of a red splotch in a pool of water. Even if that pool had flooded Shibuya... and the red splotch was everywhere. Oh boy. Her pillow was going to be deaf when she got home. This was going to give her nightmares for months at least. She staggered, the back of her knees colliding with one of the tree-surrounding walls, and she collapsed right there, scrambling as far away from the ever-deepening layer of diluted blood that covered the pavement as she could. Curling her arms tight around her legs, her little bag forgotten at her side, Y/N buried her head in her knees, terrified, trembling as though she was naked in a snowstorm, desperately wishing for something, anything, to hit her, wake her up from this nightmare, knock her unconscious, get her out of here! A short series of shrieks echoed nearby, but she didn't see who or what made them - why did one sound like a cat? Oblivious people wandered past her, either ignoring her or just not seeing her as she gripped her legs with white-knuckled fingers, pressing her back against the tree trunk, bark scraping her skin lightly through her coat, as blood rained down from the clouds high above her, and bones stabbed themselves into the sky.

~

The blood water continued rising while Y/N kept herself coiled up, locked in her prison of terror. Nobody else noticed the strange liquid that smothered the pavements and roads of Shibuya. Nobody batted an eyelid as she shivered, cold, afraid. Her phone had buzzed a few times in her bag - Rusu-chan must have called her, probably asking her where she was. Y/N could almost hear the prodigy surfer's voice echoing in her head.

_'Are you OK? Y/N-chan, what happened? You didn't get off at the wrong station again, did you?'_

Dammit, Rusu, where are you when you're needed? Y/N shuddered violently as blood splattered in her hair, staining the H/C strands a dark, thick red. Rusu was her best friend, her closest since middle school, but she had dropped out after her first year of high school to follow her dream - surfing competitions. She hoped to open her own watersports school at some point. Still, they had remained friends, which Y/N was far too grateful for (since spending time with her was much better than spending time with her family), and she always squealed and bounced every time she saw Y/N before rushing over and tackling her in a hug. She definitely would have been able to think straight in this situation.

Actually, no she wouldn't. She'd be thinking gay instead. Especially if Peiji-chan was with her.

All joking aside, Y/N was still terrified. Whatever all this was, obviously it wasn't friendly. How nobody else was seeing this was entirely beyond her. It was hopeless to try and get anyone else to see, she knew that. Hesitant, she uncurled from her safety ball, setting her feet slowly down in the blood-water. Cowering here wasn't going to do her any good at all. She pushed herself up, knees quaking a little under her weight, but thankfully they didn't collapse under her again, and that was an achievement in her eyes. The scarlet liquid sloshed around her feet, soaking her shoes and socks. Letting out a low sigh, Y/N let her arms hang at her sides as she began to wade her way to somewhere safer, maybe a little further up inside a building.

"What's with those strange costumes?"

The sudden stranger's voice made her head snap around, and she looked on in confusion at a small crowd gathered nearby. They were all staring at something, something she couldn't quite see through all the bodies blocking her path. However, she could see something fairly small, probably not quite tall enough to reach her knees, glowing a bright golden-white colour. Someone shifted, and she slid her way through the gathering until she got a good view of what the heck everyone was looking at. She was met with another set of strangers, each one wearing some strange costume that made them look like a big group of cosplayers. There were seven of them, eight counting the glowing thing, varying in height and style.

One wore a wide purple cavalier hat with a black feather, a black corset vest over a light pink blouse, purple bloomers, black leggings - or were those tights? Y/N wasn't quite sure - a black mask over her eyes, the colour of which she was too far away to see, and purple gloves. She must have been about 5 foot, maybe a couple of inches taller, around the same size as Y/N herself, and her hair was short, bouncy and a gorgeous shade of auburn. On her hip, she seemed to be sporting some sort of grenade launcher, and in her hand was a double-headed axe. Another of the girls was a little shorter, the smallest of the group actually, probably around 4 foot 11. Her hair reached down to her hips, dyed a vibrant orange. She wore a skintight black suit lined with neon green stripes that looked like they were glowing and black boots with soles in the same green as the stripes. Her gloves were also green and her mask covered her eyes with huge orange and green goggles. Another of the women stood at around 5 foot 4, wearing a black and dark blue bodysuit with a dark grey plate that laced up over her chest, with heavily spiked pads on her shoulders. A black scarf hung around her neck and her mask seemed more like a visor from a medieval helmet, framed by brown hair that just came down to her chin. She had twin sets of brass knuckles on her fists and a revolver hanging from her hip. The fourth woman wore a skin-tight red latex catsuit, decorated with zippers and a cleavage cutout, a cat tail clipped to the lower back of her suit, thigh-high boots that were slightly darker than the rest of her costume (jeez, those couldn't be easy to run in), a scarlet cat mask and bright pink gloves. Her hair was bleached blonde, tied up into pigtails, and she was the tallest of the girls, around 5 foot 6. One hand clutched a coiled up whip and a submachine gun was strapped to her back.

The first of the boys had bright blonde hair, more yellow than the tallest girl, that spiked up all over his head. He appeared to be pretty muscular, however, he was holding one of his legs in a slightly awkward position, almost as if he was in pain. He wore a black jacket with matching pants, which also sported knee pads, a scarlet ascot hanging around his neck, combat boots and his gloves were bright yellow, almost the same shade as his hair. His mask was a dark grey, modelled on a skull, the upper jaw filled with teeth and everything. He carried a pipe in one hand and rested the other on the shotgun on his hip. The second male was easily the tallest of the group - he must have been almost 6 foot - unless her differentiation between heights was off - and wore a dark blue jumpsuit with a collar that almost came up to his ears and sleeves that puffed out slightly over his lower arms. His gloves were bright blue and greenish-blue and white striped hung loosely across his hips, and - hold up, that was a tail hanging from it, right? A white tail, striped with a bright scarlet, seemingly waved on its own without its owner moving an inch. His motorcycle boots were bright white, though they were stained slightly red from the blood-water. The mask he wore was far more intricate than the others: a pure white kitsune mask with thin streaks of ruby curling up the snout, over the forehead and from the corners of the eyes, and ears filled with the same shade, framed slightly by dark blue hair. He appeared very thin and pale, however, and carried a sheathed katana in one hand, with an assault rifle strapped to his back. Y/N almost couldn't tear her eyes away from him to look at the final human (?) member of the group. He had unruly black hair, which fell almost wildly over the black and white domino mask he wore. A long black raincoat reaches down to his ankles, over a grey waistcoat with a high neck. His pants matched his coat in colour, coming to a halt at the top of the black-brown ankle boots on his feet. Bright red gloves covered his hands, one of which tightly clutched a dagger. Just underneath his coat, a pistol hung from his hip.

And then there was the cat.

It was bipedal, standing on two legs like the rest of the group. It appeared to be a black and white tuxedo cat, but it wasn't easy to say with how it was glowing. It wore a yellow bandana around its neck and a black mask over the top of its oversized head. Its huge eyes were electric blue and its tiny utility belt sported two bags and a slingshot. A cutlass that was almost as large as the cat was tall rested lightly over its shoulder. What in the hell was all this?

The whole group turned away from the crowd and Y/N realised she had completely missed their entire conversation. She watched as, one by one, they raced up the bones that protruded diagonally from Shibuya's pavements. The people surrounding her murmured, whispering to each other as they began to disperse, going back to their daily lives as if nothing had happened. Y/N stayed frozen, trapped in her terrified stance as she stared at the swiftly disappearing tails of two of the Phantom Thieves - they were absolutely the same ones she had seen on the broadcast that outed Masayoshi Shido. There was no way around it: they were the infamous Phantom Thieves and, considering the only time they had ever shown what they looked like to anyone was during that broadcast, something had to be wrong. Very wrong. Glancing between the others in the rapidly thinning crowd, Y/N crept her way, unnoticed as usual, towards the bone they had climbed up. There was some sort of sapphire haze twisting around in midair just to the left of the path, but she paid no mind to it, thinking it was just another part of this weirdly twisted world the entire population of Japan had been unceremoniously shoved into. Silent, she stood at the base of the bone, nerves tingling. Curiosity burned through her veins, yet she hesitated just before her shoe connected with the strange surface. If she moved one more inch forward, her toes wouldn't be connected to firm pavement. She looked over her shoulder. Nobody was watching.

Fuck, if only Rusu-chan was here. She'd know what to do.

She'd say not to think, just do.

Before Y/N had a chance to stop herself, she was already halfway up the slanted path of bone in pursuit of the Phantom Thieves. Strange, angel-like creatures patrolled each route, or at least they would have had the masked mysteries hadn't already cut their way through them. Y/N scrambled her way up, her boots thankfully fairly easy to run in. Thank fuck she didn't decide to wear a long top over her thermal leggings or, even worse, a skirt. Her feet scraped at whatever was masquerading as the 'ground' - or at least, her path - as she dragged herself up, onto ledges suspended high above the roads - seriously, how the hell were they doing that? What was keeping them up? She hauled herself over ridge after ridge, glancing over the edge. She froze. Someone had just turned into black smoke!

What the fuck?!

Trembling like a leaf in the wind, both her hands coming up to cover her mouth, Y/N stared at the spot where the stranger had just been barely a second ago. Whisps of something dark curled from where they had just stood in the blood-water, but they quickly vanished, blown away by the crisp, winter wind. Y/N couldn't move. It was like whatever the ground was made of had grown a few tentacles and they had wrapped around her ankles, rooting her to the weird bone structure she was stood on. Someone had just died. Someone she didn't know had just died. Someone that had a family, maybe a husband or wife or kids of their own, brothers, sisters, parents that cared for them, friends who would probably kill for them if they had to, had just died, dissolving into nothing but black gas.

What. The. Fuck.

Another person disintegrated and Y/N had to take a step backwards. Her head spun wildly, her vision swam, black spots speckled themselves in front of her eyes. She retched, bile flooding her throat and she ducked behind a rock - at least, that's what it looked like - her short nails digging into her cheeks as she desperately swallowed it back down. Goddamnit, she had made it through the blood rain without throwing up, she wasn't going to give in now, even if random strangers were disappearing like dust on a breeze...

Hoo boy...

With white knuckles and trembling legs, Y/N forced herself to her feet, the rock digging into her fingers until they bled as she tried to support herself. A small glance up ahead revealed a flash of blue and a speck of red almost halfway between her and a huge building at the other end of the bone path. What the heck was in there? Another 'heart' they were going to steal? But that had only ever affected one person, not the entirety of Shibuya - or however far the blood rain had affected. Was it the blood rain that had caused all this? She didn't know, but god damn it scared her. There was some sort of energy, buzzing through the air, streaming straight past her, tossing her stained hair around like she was stuck in a windstorm, weaving its way around the bones and blood, heading right for the building. Her feet moved on their own and Y/N found herself sprinting after the Phantom Thieves, her arms straining as they dragged over ledges dripping with thick, murky red-brown stalactites (ew), her thick leggings catching on the rocks here and there. Somehow, she didn’t stumble and didn’t attract any attention from the monsters, bursts of speed propelling her across the sky with an energy she didn’t know she had. She chased the clash of metal on metal, the crack of fired bullets, following the noise of battle like a wolf follows a scent. She hadn’t realised how fast she had been going, because it wasn’t long before she spotted a black tailcoat, a black scarf, a black feathered hat and a white tail up ahead. The Phantom Thieves were battling against some sort of angel with red skin and gold and white armour (what on Earth were those giant glowing things standing behind them? Some kind of avatar with godly power?), sending blast of ice, fire and lightning into its face, vibrant blue and green swirling around its body, black, red, pink, yellow and white crashing into its wings until it was forced to its knees and they pounced on it like wild animals, ripping it to shreds in seconds. Y/N ducked behind a cluster of rocks outside of the ‘arena’ (was it even an arena, it was literally just a bone platform in the shape of a circle), straining to hear them over the buzzing in her ears as she peeked around the corner.

The cat bounced on its feet, jumping higher than Y/N probably ever could, “The path to the temple is open!”

Skull Mask rolled his shoulders, flexing his legs a little, “No more of that Holy Grail shit doing whatever it wants!”

‘Holy Grail’…? As in the Holy Grail King Arthur searched for in those old English tales?

Paws patting on its cutlass, the cat nodded, “Let’s go!”

Orange Hair was set down next to everyone else by a giant black orb surrounded by rainbow fire – Y/N had to stifle a snort of laughter as she pictured Rusu-chan’s reaction if she saw it: ‘Oh my god, Y/N, it’s me in a nutshell!’ – coming to rest by Curly Hair Tailcoat, “I’m not sensing any more enemies nearby, Joker. This is probably gonna be our last chance to prep ourselves.”

Joker, huh? Kinda fitting for the leader of the Phantom Thieves.

Kitsune Mask tapped his fingers over the sheath of his katana, “We cannot lose now. Let us ensure we do not have any regrets as we head towards the final battle.”

Jeez, he sounded like someone who had been raised in a mansion. He had probably been an outcast from the start. Y/N watched, silent, as they raced over the bridge across the giant chasm between the platform and the building, and crept out from her hiding spot, accidentally knocking a loose fragment from the pillar beside her. Kitsune Mask stopped in his tracks, being right at the rear of the group, and turned to look back. Y/N squeaked in fear, diving back behind the rock, her knees against her stomach.

"Inari!"

"Apologies. I thought I heard something…"

H/C hair hanging over her eyes, she poked her head out, watching the white tail grow smaller and smaller as Kitsune Mask followed everyone else into the building - temple? - but Y/N couldn't bring herself to chase after them any further. That thing was giving off way too much energy to be safe - then again she had come this far, but still. There was no way in hell she was getting any closer to that thing.

So what now…?

Did she stay here and wait for something to happen? Did she go back to Shibuya where she wasn't in danger of falling who knows how far but would probably have to swim in blood to stay alive?

Actually, that second option was probably her best bet. At least she could swim.

~

The walk back down to ground level took much longer than Y/N expected. Since she wasn't so focused on chasing the Phantom Thieves, her mind wandered more than her legs did. So many questions raced through her brain over and over again. What was in that temple? What did they mean by 'Holy Grail'? Was that why Shibuya was so fucked up right now? She was thinking so much, her head was starting to hurt. Dammit, she definitely needed more sleep. She could forget about the blood rain, forget about the bones, forget about the temple…

But she didn't want to forget about the Phantom Thieves.

They had said the boy that had been arrested and had committed 'suicide' was about her age, right? And he already had a criminal record before he'd been caught as a Phantom Thief. And that calling card sent to Shido when they hijacked the news… Just who were these kids? How on Earth did they steal hearts? Especially when all of their targets happened to be corrupted people with some form of power over some part of society. How were they all linked?

Y/N was too lost in her thoughts to notice the rumbling vibrating through the bones beneath her feet. It was only when they were strong enough to practically shake her whole body that she stopped and turned around, eyes growing wide and fingers quaking as the temple split open into segments, rising up, up, up into the sky, the tiny specks of colour that she was certain were the Phantom Thieves staggering around as they tried to keep their balance. A huge white-gold monster of an eight-armed winged thing glared down at them without eyes, sending a huge dark blast of energy at them from a book, a bell, a gun and a sword, knocking them all off their feet as they rise above the clouds and almost out of sight. Y/N staggered the rest of the short distance back into the blood water, her damp shoes instantly becoming soaked once again. The crowd around her mumbled, staring up at the huge pillar in the middle of Shibuya, whispering to each other as, one by one, the Phantom Thieves fell to their knees.

"So… this is the power that resists ruin…" the booming voice of the monster echoed over Tokyo, maybe even reaching further, "My control shall not bow down to ruin. My control is the ultimate truth of this world."

Another huge blast struck the Phantom Thieves, the shockwave dispersing the clouds around them. Thousands of people watched with bated breath as they all collapsed, their words inaudible to anyone on the ground.

"What drivel…"

Again, an explosion rang out from the pillar, engulfing the top of it in nothing but black. Several people, at least out of the people who weren't already panicking about the whole dissolving into smoke thing, in the crowd shrieked in shock, Y/N included. Her hands came up to cover her mouth. Were they… dead?

"Since you've been forsaken by the world, there is nowhere that you can belong."

Lightning struck the blackness and more people screamed. Y/N stared in horror. There was no way they could have survived… right? The white-gold creature cackled, and lightning struck again, and she flinched so hard she almost turned around.

"Not even one sliver of unpredictability can be permitted under my control."

The crowd around her started murmured again and Y/N couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Guess it was impossible in the end."

"It was fun while it lasted, though."

"It's humans against a god, after all."

No, no, no… Why were they giving up?

"Do you hear the voices of the masses? They mock you for revolting against a god."

_I don't._

"Humans are nought but clumps of desire. Logic dictates that a world filled with them will decline. The sin of rebelling against a god is severe. As punishment, you shall taste pain everlasting."

_No!_

"Not letting that happen!" A small, boyish, kind of familiar voice rang out, almost as loud as the god.

_That cat…_

"The attendant created from the dregs of human hope, hm…? It is impossible for a petty existence like you to overrule my precedent."

Y/N lifted her face from her hands as she looked up, watching the black orb that had enveloped the tower. The sky was growing dark - it was Christmas Eve after all.

"Human hope is a desire too! You better not underestimate it! The Phantom Thieves will yield to no one, no matter who they are! Even if only one of us remains, we’ll get back up and fight to the very end! And we’ll definitely… definitely…”

People around her were still screaming and disappearing. Someone was yelling at a nearby police officer. Someone else was trying to call someone but couldn’t get through. Y/N couldn’t move. She stared up at the billboard screens as they flickered with static and a familiar top hat and mask symbol.

“Take the world!”

Other people were whispering to each other, trying to remember who they thought the Phantom Thieves were. An urban legend? Real people? Could they do anything?

“Take it down, Phantom Thieves!”

A single fist punched its way into the air above blue-tinted black hair and Y/N stared straight at its owner. The boy flinched when nobody joined him in cheering them on, spinning on his heel as he looked at the crowd.

“Come on, why do you think they’ve risked their lives all this time?! Dammit, you guys! Snap out of it! When will you stop running from the truth?!”

The throng whispered, ripping murmurs scattering themselves through the ranks of people huddled together in Shibuya Station Square. Y/N wove her way to the front, staring at the boy, who was doubled over, hands on his knees. Nobody stepped forward to join him.

She did.

“They’ve faced death who knows how many times already for all of us! We can't help them if we do nothing. The least we can do is support them now,” Y/N surprised herself with how steady her voice was, joining the supportive stranger and raising her own fist, “Get ‘em, Phantom Thieves!”

God, what was she doing?! She didn’t know anyone! Rusu-chan and Peigi-chan were nowhere to be seen, she had no support! Screwing her eyes shut, she prepared herself for the mocking. Already her parents’ voices were ringing in her head.

_‘They’re fake. No good at all.’_

_‘Phantom Thieves, ha!’_

“Phantom Thieves…?” Somebody murmured, their voice quivering, uncertain, but they took up the cry, “Yes, the Phantom Thieves!”

The whispers turned into chatter and the chatter turned into cheers. People began jumping, splashing the blood water around their feet. Y/N still had her eyes closed, but she joined in.

“We believe in you!”

“Take it down!”

The boy was just as surprised as Y/N was, but turned around to face the tower, “Phantom Thieves, can you hear us?!”

Y/N lifted her voice higher, screaming as loud as she could, not caring if she wrecked her vocal cords. Fuck what her parents would say, she was 17, she had her own damn life, she could blow out her voice if that meant the Phantom Thieves would get back up. The sky grew brighter. The cat spoke again.

“You hear that?! Those are the voices of the humans you made fun of! No one wants you to rule over them! Isn’t that right, Joker?!”

The darkness was gone by now and the tiny specks of colour were getting back up. Y/N grinned wildly, raising her voice even louder than before, her throat burning, her sodden feet leaving the concrete.

“Take it down!”

“God is the one who creates the world!” God Monster shouted from the sky, but they refused to back down.

“I’ve made up my mind. I will see my justice through for the sake of protecting what I care about. The same goes for you guys too! If you’ve decided to take the world from him, don’t compromise your ideals to the very end!”

Y/N’s grin split her face open, and both her hands found their way into the air above her head, “Take the world!”

“Give that evil god his final warning, Joker!”

There was a crash from the top of the tower as a scarlet, black-winged demon burst from nothing before going up in sapphire flames, disappearing. The crowd fell silent, some people freezing completely, as tiny comets flew across the clouds.

“So you have failed to harness the power. No matter how many prayers of those foolish masses come together… Hm?!”

Thunder crashed as dark clouds swarmed behind the Phantom Thieves. The huge gathering on the ground gasped as one, Y/N lifting her hands to cover her mouth again, this time in amazement. A colossal being, even bigger than the god, descended from the fog, looking like a general with its armour, horns curling down either side of its head, a blue halo of fire swirling above it, ginormous wings extending from its back, a gun clutched in its clawed hand.

“That’s incredible!”

“Fools! This is why man is doomed!” the golden god unleashed another black and red explosion on the Phantom Thieves, but they didn’t flinch, “IMPOSSIBLE!”

People around her started cheering again, “That’s so cool! It’s like some super demon lord!”

The cat’s voice rang out once more, “I see… If a god plays naughty, then it’s a demon lord’s duty to punish him…! What better way is there for a finale as a trickster! Joker, we’re entrusting our strength and the people’s hopes to you! Put an end to this!”

The blue and black giant lifted his gun, much to the god’s dismay. It stared down the barrel, fearless, doomed.

“Preposterous… You dare rob the people’s wishes?!”

In answer, the gun fired, its bullet flying straight through the god’s head. A white shockwave shot down from the gold and white body, washing over the entirety of Shibuya, freezing the whole population as they suddenly went back to their business.

“What the…”

Y/N spun on her heel several times, scanning everyone she could see. Why was nobody cheering? The Phantom Thieves had won! Why were they all acting like nothing happened? Why were they all frozen in time?

More importantly, why was she the only one not affected?

Head spinning, she clawed at her hair, panicking. What the hell was going? Why could she still move? Why was nobody else moving? What had that god done?! Terrified, the blood water sloshing around her waist – when had it gotten that high? – Y/N squeezed her eyes closed, her fingers curling into trembling fists. The shy was clearing, the sun setting in glorious reds, yellows and oranges, Christmas Eve growing darker as night fell, and she shuddered from the cold and fear, legs almost giving way under her.

“Afraid, human?”

Startled, Y/N almost jumped out of her skin, eyes flying open as she staggered back, almost colliding with a stranger. A tiny ball of crimson light, swirling with black, hovered in front of her, the same growling voice that had, moments ago, roared its anger at the human race to the heavens, ricocheting around her skull.

“W-What…?”

“I may have lost to the Phantom Thieves, but their rebellion against me shall not be forgotten, nor forgiven! I will live on in one of their allies and bring them to justice!”

Y/N remained frozen, entire body trembling in terror as the last remains of the god flew closer to her face, “A-ally…? I don’t – “

“Quiet human! I will live on within you and they will pay…” the orb slammed into her chest and she shrieked in pain. Her entire left side flared up in agony as something wove its way beneath her skin, into her bloodstream, her arm shuddering as it was torn into from the inside.

And then she woke up.


End file.
